Call my ‘agent’: Who takes care of talented teens?

Signing for a professional club is the goal of young footballers, but the role of representatives is unclear, reports Mark Tighe

Talented young footballers are claiming they are represented by two former high-profile Irish footballers, despite neither being officially an agent. Stephen Ireland, the former Ireland and Manchester City midfielder, and Gary Rogers, a League of Ireland-winning goalkeeper with Dundalk FC, are said by a number of players to be their agents. Neither man is a registered intermediary, and both insist they are not agents.

The Professional Footballers Association of Ireland (PFAI) said it believes almost all League of Ireland players use an agent, but more than 75pc of player contracts do not list the involvement of one.

Registered agents operating in the UK and Ireland told the Sunday Independent they are frustrated that Ireland and Rogers appeared to do a lot of agent-like work — in recruiting young Irish players and helping them find moves — but are not subject to Fifa’s strict rules on agents.

Fifa introduced a new registration regime last October, though parts of it have not been implemented due to legal challenges. World football’s governing body said just under a third of the 9,207 people who sat its one-hour agent exams last year passed.

Rogers is among those who failed the exam. Since his 2021 retirement from Dundalk, he has worked as a “football scout” with GestiFute and its Irish-based company, Polaris Sports.

GestiFute is one of the biggest football agency companies in the world. It was founded by super-agent Jorge Mendes, whose clients include Cristiano Ronaldo.

Players whose official agent is registered as Andy Quinn — an accountant and director of Polaris Sports who is a registered agent with the FAI — have openly said they believe Rogers is their agent.

In a recent podcast, Killian Phillips — a 22-year-old player who transferred from Drogheda to Crystal Palace in January 2022 — described Rogers as “me agent”.

Phillips said he did not like calling Rogers his agent as he was a friend, one of his best mates and “a legend”.

He described how Rogers called him to tell him he had a trial with Crystal Palace and later informed him that the club wanted to sign him.

Rogers has been photographed at the transfer signings of Alex Murphy from Galway United to Newcastle Unite, Fiachra Pagel to Forest Green from Drogheda United and Georgie Kelly to Rotherham United from Bohemians. In all cases, Quinn is recorded as the agent in the deal, except for Murphy’s, which lists GestiFute International.

After signing for Palace from Shelbourne last January, player Luke Browne posted on Instagram, thanking Rogers and Polaris “for getting the deal done”. The post was later edited to remove the reference to Rogers.

Rogers has been involved in Cork City’s teenage star Jaden Umeh’s impending move to Benfica of Portugal. Umeh, who turned 16 in March, posted a series of pictures of football boots he had received from Puma and tagged Rogers on his Instagram posts last October.

Agents are required to pass additional checks before being allowed to deal with minors.

Rogers, Polaris and GestiFute did not respond to queries. It is understood Rogers sat the latest Fifa agent exams. The results will be released this week. Eleven agents are currently registered with the FAI.

In Stephen Ireland’s case, sources in Cork say he has been involved in helping players from Cobh Ramblers and Cork City arrange moves to England.

Players including Cathal Heffernan (who moved from Cork City to AC Milan and then on to Newcastle United) and Alex Healy-Byrne (who signed for Burnley from Cork City) list “Sire 7” — an entity linked to Stephen Ireland — as their representation on Instagram.

Heffernan, the son of Olympic medallist Rob Heffernan, used Instagram to thank Ireland personally for “doing my deal” when he signed for Newcastle last August.

Ireland has advised Brighton striker Mark O’Mahony, but last week a family member said: “Mark moved on from Stephen Ireland about five months ago.”

In an interview last year with the Irish Examiner, in which he was described as the agent for Heffernan and current Cork City player Cathal O’Sullivan, Ireland spoke about moves for young players who were not yet getting paid by League of Ireland clubs.

“I’ll do my best to ensure the club does well from incentives and bonuses, but I don’t know how clubs can complain when they’re not paying the player,” he said.

The registered agent on Heffernan’s transfer to Newcastle was Paul Masterton, who represented Ireland as a player and his co-director in SJI 7 Sports Management Ltd.

Masterton said that company, formed in 2007, is 95pc owned by him and 5pc by Ireland. It trades as First E11even Sport.

We’ve heard stories of parents asked to pay for flights and accommodation for their son’s trials

Speaking this weekend, Ireland said he understood there were questions about his role, but insisted he is not an agent.

“I’m kind of taking a coaching, kind of mentor role,” he said. “Hence why I don’t want to be an agent. It’s not my forte. It’s not my expertise. My expertise is obviously playing the game.”

Ireland said he advises and trains 15 to 20 players to help them improve their game. He said he cannot speak to clubs and does not do contracts.

“In terms of all the logistics stuff of getting trials and doing deals, clubs won’t even deal with me in the first place — even if they wanted to or I wanted them to, because it’s squeaky tight now in England,” he said. “You have to show your agent’s licence before you even get into any club situation.”

Ireland said any calls he receives from clubs are passed on to Masterton, who represents the players who need an agent.

When contacted by the Sunday Independent, Masterton said he has emails from November 2021 showing he arranged Mark O’Mahony’s trial with Brighton and his parents.

Masterton said he negotiated with Cork City on the buy-out clauses that Ireland mentioned in his Irish Examiner interview.

Masterton said he arranged the transfers of Cathal Heffernan and believed that the player thanking Stephen Ireland for getting the Newcastle deal was a “slip from the player”. He said Heffernan wanted to thank Ireland for his friendship and for the training that helped him secure the move.

Asked why footballers claimed to be represented by “Sire 7” on Instagram, Ireland said he works with coach Ryan Hopper, who controls the Sire 7 Instagram page. He said it was a training platform and not a company.

Ireland said players should not list Sire 7 as their “representation” because their representation contract is signed with Masterton and First E11ven Sport.

“It [Sire 7] is actually nothing,” said Ireland. “There’s nothing to be represented by. One is a [training] platform. When they sign a rep deal, there’s no Sire 7 paperwork.”

Masterton said he believed players were excited they had deals and listed Sire 7 as their representation as a way to thank Ireland and Hopper for their mentorship and training.

Stephen McGuinness, the general secretary of the PFAI, which represents all League of Ireland players, said he believes almost every player in the league now uses an agent to negotiate their contracts. Despite that, fewer than 25pc of contracts list the involvement of an agent in the deal.

Without referencing any specific person, McGuiness said the regulation of agents in Ireland is “not robust enough”.

“There are guidelines around how young players are treated and supervised when going on trials, but these are not being followed,” he said. “We’ve heard stories of parents being asked to pay for flights and accommodation for their sons to go on trials. It’s madness.”

McGuiness said the PFAI had warned parents and players to use only registered agents.

“If they’re not registered, they shouldn’t go near them,” he said. “Some clubs have a history of dealing with unregistered agents. Clubs need to be sanctioned if they’re found dealing with an unauthorised agent. “

He said it was up to the FAI “to be stronger” on regulation.

An FAI spokesperson said: “The association implements some of the strictest rules in Europe to become a registered agent, and we’re confident in our implementation of the Fifa agents’ rules and regulations.”